Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven -- Tagore

Seeing Chandrika’s post made me do this. Yes, finally. I had a yearning to take little S to the orchards where she can get to “pick her own” fruits. Not that that would make her eat all her fruits with a glee but just because she would know that fruits grew on trees and not in Shop Rite. With my tomato and beans and okra (last year) plants she has got the hang of where they come from but she was yet to see a fruit laden tree from where you could pluck them. So since I couldn’t grow a fruit tree in my backyard I thought the best would be to take her to the orchards

Peaches, Peaches EveryWhere

Last week was pretty hectic with some unexpected but very welcome guests popping in and staying with us for the better part of the week. The guest was my friend with her 4 year old en route to India who had to stop and spend time at my place due to some messed up travel plan. Since it was summer but the heat was not overbearing we took the kids to an orchard near my home. The strawberry season was over and the peaches were just ripening to be picked, so peaches it was.

The rows and rows of peach trees were laden with fruits, there was fruit hanging from all possible branches and the kids had a fun time plucking them and plonking them in the basket. They ran through the trees, hung on the delicate branches (you are not really allowed to do that) and had a general good time.

Little hands picking the fruit

I would suggest a trip to these orchards a very good way to entertain your kids during summer. Its relaxing, exhilarating and reminds you of the days when you would climb up the guava tree and get a bunch of green guavas in the nook of your long A line frock.

Luscious Peaches

Once back with all the peaches I was not sure what to do with them other than distributing a large share. I am not really a very fruity person and though I love trees, even those with fruits hanging from them, I am not really too keen on eating them. The one fruit I really, really love is watermelon and I love it as it is without messing up. Even as a juice I like the chunky watermelon juice which needs a spoon to scoop up the chunks. Also I add almost nothing (maybe a little sugar) to my watermelon and that’s it.So I didn’t really have anything to submit for dear Bee & Jai’s AFAM.

And then there came the peaches. I googled for a peach salad and found this. I had nothing that was in the ingredient list except the peaches. So I paired up the peeled and cut peaches with my dear old watermelon, drizzled 3 tspof lime juice mixed with 1 tsp of honey for 1 peeled and diced peach + six melon ball and let it chill. It tasted good but then give me my watermelon in its pristine condition any day. This goes to Bee & Jai's AFAM-Watermelon , an event that originated from Maheshwari's (whom we are missing very much) brain and blog. I would suggest you follow the original recipe to make the right salad.

A little watermelon joke that I want to chronicle, to laugh at when I get old.Watermelon in Bengali is called Tormuj. Now Tor in Bengali is synonymous to Tu in Hindi or You in English. Last year when S took a real liking to watermelon we told her it is called TorMuj. She analysed it as Tor + Muj i.e. Your + Muj. So when she eats a watermelon she says “Ami AmarMuj khachi” i.e. “I am eating My Muj”. When I eat it she says “Tumi TomarMuj khachcho”. The name of the fruit is Muj for her while she adds a pronoun. If you didn't get the joke just let go.

Trivia: Peach is the state flower of Delaware and the state fruit of South Carolina. The Stae of Georgia calls itself the "Peach State"Though it is not known when watermelon was first cultivated, there is evidence of Watermelon cultivation in the Nile Valley in the early second millenium BC. Numerous watermelon seeds were recovered from the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (Source: Wiki). Now I know why I like it

Sandeepa, Little S must have loved the trip to the farm. Those fruit laden trees look really beautiful. Thanks for the link. How about making Peach Melba? Remember Peach Melba icecreams back home? My first introduction to Peaches though I had no clue how they looked. The first time I saw them here I grabbed one but am not a big fan.

Unfortunately I don't have a blog Sandeepa but I love to cook and my husband and friends have a great time tasting my cooking :). I discovered your blog and other cooking blogs a few weeks ago and love browsing through it.Do you have an email address I can contact you at ?

My friend, you always show us S'l lil hands or fingers....I want to see her face :) Just kidding ok...I know it's not safe on the virtual world...but she is my fav virtual kid :)I have never visited the peach orchads...been to an apple orchard...

I wanna go to farm picking... every time I plan for such farm picking and it flops, I really envy seeing someone's post on farm picking. Really have to finalize this week abt this! Nice post where did u visit in NJ?

AshaYour kids wouldn't be thrilled by such activity any more I think :)

MahuaI don't give out my e-mail just because I don't check my blog e-mail much except when I am sending posts for events :) Since you are a good cook and also familiar with Bengali cooking, it would be great if you could give me your suggestions on the recipes I have

Wow lovely pics Sandeepa... I have been for apple picking, strawberry picking and cherry picking and loved them all. I have to google and find for peach picking now. Little S is so cute Sandeepa. She made me LOL. Hugs to her.

smart thing to do sandeepa. fruits growing at shop-rite! haha...but it's true, the first discovery of actually seeing fruits/veges growing on trees/in gardens was fascinating and even now i find it exciting when people tell me they grow some of their own fruits and vegetables!

this comment is not really linked to the peaches but more to mangoes.Last weekend i tried out your mango pudding,...it was just TOO GOOD!!! super hit among the guests as well...with everyone asking "how did you make it" and I kept on smiling and taking credit!The best part was how simple it is to make!!!

Sandeepa, You take gorgeous pictures. We have a peach tree in our garden and last year since we couldn't finish eating all the peaches I canned some and froze some to have during winter. Canning is time consuming but freezing works really well, and the peaches can be added to porridge, ice cream and pies... a dollop of sunshine for those gloomy winter days.

hey Sandeepa, Ya now my Son is doing good. He is very accident prone right from his childhood. 2 teeth were shaking and they pulled out one. the other day the fell down at home near the kitchen and got hit by the wall's edge. each and every time he does something I feel I have to run to the emergency . so these days I am just behind him. keep him busy. How is your little one?

Mymuj, tomarmuj was the cutest!!! I love it when kids just simply the language to their liking. I was browsing for some cabbage side dishes and chanced upon your page.My son speaks bengali like a firang. He's picked up more english, so everyone here thinks he's got the accent, while i visited Sydney! :D anyways, i like the enthusiasm with which you cook. Catch up with you sometime.

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine